


Fear For a Brother

by Elenhin



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Anders is scared, Anders is sick, Gen, Mike can't help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 21:44:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1794208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/pseuds/Elenhin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike has come to realize that Anders is actually at times scared of him, and he does not like it. Trying to do something about it is not as easy as he thinks though, how do you make your brother feel safe with you?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fear For a Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aramirandme81](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aramirandme81/gifts).



> Big thanks to Aramirandme81 who gave me the challange for this, the challange being that Mike wishes he could take care of Anders, that his brother would not be afraid of him anymore.

_** Fear For a Brother ** _

Mike had not thought about it at first. He had noticed it of course, no one could miss something so obvious, well, aside from Axl of course. Axl would be able to miss the Titanic being parked in his backyard, and he would not wonder how they got the ship out of the blue depths either. 

Axl was rather special.

Anders was special too, as Ty had put it. It was why he was not nice to anyone and why they treated him as they did. Anders was a dick, a tool, and a complete jerk so Mike never thought much about it. It was only when he discovered that Anders was actually scared of them. Not just scared they’d take him to task about the shit he did, not just scared of one of them taking a swing at him when he went too far. 

He was scared of them, scared of them being around him and scared of them being nice to him.    
  
Perhaps terrified would be a better word. 

He had not thought about that before but now he did and he did not like it. They had never really been all that close, not since they grew older. It had been different when they were children because then they had to be close to survive. There had never really been anyone else they could rely on, so they relied on one another.    
  
Anders counted on Mike not letting any of the bigger bullies kill him, and Ty counted on Anders to talk him out of trouble. Ty really only got into trouble becuase he was so shy his teachers were concerned, and Anders could smooth that over in just a minute with his silver tongue. Axl counted on both Ty and Anders to indulge him and spoil him. 

Mike had thought it would be better when he and Valerie took over, for Ty and Axl it had been but for Anders it seemed to be getting worse and he never quite could figure out why. He was aware that Anders had been forced to take on too much responsibility for his age, but that’s why he made sure to fix that after. He took all that responsibility upon himself so that Anders would be allowed to be a kid again, something that appeared to anger him. 

Then there had been incident with Valerie that he still did not know what to think off, he used to think it was all Anders, but now he wasn’t so sure. Anders had said he did it for him, and while it was a shit thing to do, and incredible stupid Anders didn’t lie about things like that. If he said that he had done it for Mike, then that was probably his intention. 

A part of him knew it was why he was so mad, because Anders had tried to show him then what he learned years later. That Valerie was only with him for the guilt and not for the love. 

It was probably because Anders was right that he was so mad. 

Anders was an idiot, but he was not malicious and he was not evil.    
  
He was scared though, and that was what bothered Mike so much now. 

If Axl needed anything Mike and Ty would both provide and Axl took it for granted. If Axl and Anders disagreed Mike and Ty would both side with Axl, and he took that for granted. 

When Mike stood up for Anders the one time he felt he deserved it, Anders showed fear and surprise. 

It scared him to have his brother show anything but anger and contempt for him, and that was pissing Mike off. 

The last time Axl had a cold, he made sure they knew. He was the perfect image of the man about to die, and Ty would cook for him as he asked. Perhaps it was becuase they had the God virus in mind, Mike wasn’t sure, but they both did it. They suffered the whining with amused smiles and assured Axl he wasn’t dying. 

Anders with the flu did not tell them, did not ask for a single thing. They would not have known if not for Dawn. Ty had gone to see her and had been mad when she was alone and Anders no where to be found. He had accused Anders of being a complete a dick and urged her to leave until she told him that no, Anders wasn’t shirking work. He was really sick and not in any shape to be in the office. Apparently he had been sick for a week with a really bad case of the flu. 

According to Dawn he was barely well enough to pull himself out of bed, and she had been stopping by once or twice every day to make sure he was okay and had something to eat. 

Mike did not doubt for a second that Anders might use Dawn but he found it hard to believe he’d be able to play sick for an entire week to do so. Also, Dawn claimed Anders kept trying to get her to go away. Not something he was very likely to do if he wanted to use her. Ever since he stood up for Anders and saw his reaction it had bothered him. Anders was literally afraid of them being nice to him, and no matter what a dick Anders was Mike couldn’t stand for his brother being afraid of him. They needed to do something about that. Anders didn’t deserve being treated so badly by his brothers that he was scared of them. 

It seemed like the perfect time to do something about it, if Anders had the flu he could use someone checking up on him. Axl when sick wanted attention, Ty wanted company. He himself wanted to be independent and Anders wanted to curl up somewhere where he did not have to emerge before he was well again. Unfortunately that meant he neither ate nor did anything else to take care of himself. 

He went to the office first, Dawn looking up a little surprised as she saw him. “Anders isn’t here, I thought Ty told you he was home sick.” 

“He told me,” Mike confirmed. “I thought I’d check up on him.” 

“I know what you think of Anders,” she frowned. “But he really is sick. I was there just this morning, and he wouldn’t be able to fake a fever like that even if he tried. He’s not pretending to be sick Mike, he really is sick.” 

“I know he’s not faking,” he frowned. “Ty did tell me, I thought I’d make sure he was okay.” He paused. “I know Anders don’t think we can be nice to him. But I didn’t know you thought the same. Even if Anders is a prick he’s still our brother.” 

“And the way you treat him, I don’t always know what you think,” she frowned. “Even if he sometimes deserve it.” 

“Well right now I want to take care of him,” Mike assured him. “I thought I’d drop by here first to see what I need to bring, does he have any food or anything?” 

“I’ve brought some tinned soup, and some flu meds, but I think he’s running low on most things. He won’t let me do a lot,” she pursed her lips. 

“I’ll run past the supermarket first then, and I’ll need the keys to his flat,” Mike added. 

Dawn nodded, giving him the keycard and Mike thanked her. 

He made sure to stock up on anything Anders could need, not just soup, actually, hardly any soup. Anders didn’t care for soup so instead he picked up some applesauce, pudding cups and such things. He made sure to get plenty of flu medications as well. balancing the paper sacks he let himself into the flat, dropping the supplies in the kitchen area before heading to the bedroom. If he had had any doubts about Anders really being sick they left him when he entered the bedroom and saw Anders curled up under a thick pile of blankets. He looked awful, what Mike could even see of him. His breathing was labored and sounded painful

“Anders, you okay ‘bro?” he asked and Anders opened his eyes. 

“Mike?” he coughed and tried to bite back a small whimper. Frowning Mike put the back of his head to his forehead. 

“You sure it’s just a flu? You’re pretty sick ‘bro.” It was with no little concern Mike noted how ill he was. 

“Flu,” Anders stated. His voice was hoarse and his tone stubborn. Speaking made him wince and he closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He was dragging in air through his mouth, making Mike think he couldn’t breath through his nose, and he really wasn’t breathing properly at all. Now he looked up at Mike, suspiciously. “Why are you here?” he had to stop for breath halfway through the sentence. 

“Trying to make sure you’re okay,” Mike stated. “We didn’t know you were sick though. Ty found out from Dawn. You might have told us.” 

“Why?” Anders blinked confused. 

“Because it might have been a good idea if we had known,” Mike tried. 

“Why?” Anders coughed again and could not quite bite back a whimper. 

“Because you obviously need some help right now,” Mike explained. “Dawn said she’d been by to check up on you, but she can’t take care of everything.” There was a pile of clothes and bed clothes on the floor on the far side of the bed. Looked as if Anders had on occasion changed clothes and just thrown them there in a pile. The t-shirt he wore now looked almost soaked through with sweat, his hair lying plastered to his head and Mike could imagine how he must be feeling terribly hot and sticky. “Looks like you need a bit of washing done.” 

“Dawn offered, but I told her no,” Anders blushed and coughed. 

“I can take care of it,” Mike offered. 

“Why?” this time the word was followed by such a fit of coughing that Anders wound up wheezing for breath. 

“Do you have anything clean left?” Mike ignored him and went to the closer to se if he could find something for him to wear. Not much suitable at all. He had never had much in the way of leisure clothes. Nothing that would be comfortable but he did find a fresh t-shirt. “Okay, can you stand? So you can have a shower?” 

“No,” Anders shook his head. 

“I’d better give you a hand then,” Mike mused. “You look pretty miserable there.” 

Anders nodded, his eyes dropping in what Mike thought was shame. “Well, we’ll get you cleaned up then, you’ll feel better and you know it.” 

“Go away,” again Anders burst into a coughing fit so Mike goes through the supply he has brought. He finds the cough syrup that should help and pours a measure into a glass. He used to be able to do so without the dosage cup when they were children and he had to measure out medecin for Anders more often than not. Now he used the cup to get the correct dosage. Holding it out to Anders who do not take it. 

“It’s cough syrup Anders, it’ll help with that cough.” 

“Go away,” Anders whispers. He closes his eyes as if that will make Mike go away. 

Mike leans forward to help him sit up, and Anders pulls back from the touch with a whimper. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Mike frowns. “What’s wrong?” 

“Go away,” the plea is hardly much more than a whimper and a painfully rasp in the throat.

“Can’t really leave you like this, can I?” Mike muses. He reaches to help him, but when he holds his hands out Anders gives a whimper and pulls back. Causing Mike to curse, Anders is pulling back out of reach because he’s scared. 

Scared of Mike, scared his brother will hurt him.

Normally Anders would not let it show so clearly, but he’s weakened now and not able to control his emotions like he normally do, so the fear shows. He can’t help it and Mike can tell by the angry blushing in his cheeks how much he hates letting it slip. 

Not so long ago when Mike stood up for him against Axl the shock was enough to make Anders faint. 

Now that he is sick enough to need his brothers he’s still scared because Mike is being nice to him. 

It really do not Mike feel very good about himself. 

“You still want me to go huh?” he asks and Anders nods slowly, coughing again until he is whimpering from the pain. 

“Take the medicine ‘bro,” Mike starts slowly. “And let me help you clean up a bit so you’re more comfortable. Then I will, okay?” 

Anders gives a small and reluctant nod, swallowing the cough syrup. He allows Mike to help him into the fresh t-shirt. Mike gathers up all the dirty linen so he’ll be able to wash it. 

“If I called Ty, would that be okay?” Anders has been watching him carefully the whole time, pulling up the cover to his chin as soon as Mike has pulled the t-shirt over his head. Now he gives another tiny nod, guarded, scared. 

“Alright, I hope you get well soon,” and all he can do is leave. 

Anders is scared of him, truly scared of him because he’s being nice and Anders don’t know how to read him when he’s being nice. Anders is scared of him because it’s so long since Mike was just nice to him that Anders can’t really remember how that is. 

He takes care of Axl and he keeps an eye on Ty, but what has he been doing to Anders?

** The End **

**  
_Please comment, the Dwarf Cricket is hungry....._ **


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